Posted 2017-12-06 9:33 PM Subject: Insulating my pump house
Shoot Yeah
Posts: 4273 Location: Where you need a paddle... Oregon!
I need to insulate my pump house. It's a very odd configuration, so it makes some methods hard to apply. Let me explain the set up first.
Picture this:
About a 4x6 concrete cistern that sits on top of the ground. It's about waist high or a little more when I'm standing at it. It has an old wooden pump house built on top of it. That pump house is the same base dimensions, but fairly high (because the pressure tank is in there), so the entire thing, including the cement base is at least 8 foot high, maybe taller.
The front of the pump house (6 foot wide) has a very large door cut into it. When you open the door the pump sits RIGHT THERE. It's mounted directly into the concrete and only sits back about 6 inches from the front edge. To the left, with a pipe running to it is the pressure tank, about 2 feet away. On the right of the pump is a pipe that feeds from the cistern.
There are 3 houses on this pump. Mine - with a pipe that comes off the front (a hole is cut in the door) and straight down into the ground, so it's outside the pump house. There are 2 pipes that lead off the back of the pump, across the floor of the concrete, and again through holes in the back of the pump house and out. One of the pipes is buried, the other one sits on the top of the ground. Those 2 houses are at least 50 feet up the hill behind my house.
Nobody said this was an ideal situation. lol
When I moved in almost 3 years ago the pump house was a complete mess. It was lined with pink insulation that was full of rat poop and falling down all over the pipes. It had gotten wet over the years and was just disgusting. There were dead rats in there. Someone had put a radiant heater in there amongst all that (there is a plug in).
I told the neighbor that if he would pull all that out, I'd insulate it. That was last winter. My stepdad came up when I was gone and did this ramshackle of a mess using old hot tub insulation. Of course it's flat and rigid, so it didn't lie flat and was just laying across pipes and the pump and it is so light that any time you needed to do anything in there it slid off. We have A LOT of issues with our pump, so we are in there very often trying to work on it, look at gauges, etc. Again, another subject.... lol. I also hung a heat lamp in there. I also hung a dark colored tarp across the front of the pump house to block as much wind as possible and cover the 2 pipes that run on the outside of the concrete block (one goes to my house, the other comes up from the well that's down the hill and is pumped up to the cistern). Then I leaned plywood against that to block as much wind and snow as possible.
I need to do something that works better. I've been looking on amazon and googling and I wonder about the reflective insulation that comes in rolls. At least that stuff would be flexible and I could lay it across things and wrap around pipes where I can.
What about those reflective heat blankets that you can buy for if you get lost in the cold? Do those hold and radiate heat?
Posted 2017-12-07 7:15 AM Subject: RE: Insulating my pump house
Veteran
Posts: 146
You could wrap the pipes with electric tape and then wrap with insulated tape on top of that. That's what we do. One of those oil filled space heaters (safer than the other kind of heaters) might work too but you would need to reinsulate the walls etc.
Posted 2017-12-07 10:26 PM Subject: RE: Insulating my pump house
You have what we call a southern engineered mess ...
Your simplest method will be to attack the outside of the building all the way
to the roof .... you may as well put new metal on the roof to make it leak proof
and attractive ... green roofs and white metal siding look good on anything.
Get you 4x8 sheets of Styrofoam they use to insulate the outside of houses ..
and a good sharp box knife ... layer 3-4 inches on exterior using something like
liquid nails to glue them together ... and then using long screws layer colored or
galvalume barn siding on over the foam insulation ...
No more wind and snug as a bug ...
Inside the roof ... cut 3-4 inches of foam to fit and glue in place
and use 1x4 boards across the foam
screwed into the roof rafters to hold foam in place ... now you have you a YETI
cooler for a well house ...
Pipe coming out front door ... keep in mind this foam is light weight ...
so if you have to put 6 inches of foam across the font door covered with metal
sheeting to put pipe to your house "inside the door" ... do whatever it takes ..
may have to put a 1x6 board around the door to box it in to protect the sides of foam ..
Put a couple of lug bolt rings on each side of door and use bungie cords as a door
lock.
Pipe running out the back of the pump house ... slot your insulation and metal sheeting
around the pipe ... then build you a 3 sided box with treated lumber a foot higher than the
top edge of pipe ... fill with dirt and compact the dirt ... then nail some treated lumber on
the top ... this should insulate that flat running pipe until it goes under ground ..
Now get you a good heater to keep plugged in at a set temperature to turn on ..
40* is a good number ... to keep exposed pipes from freezing ...
if loss of power is an issue ... get you one of the propane bottle LITTLE BUDDY
propane heaters for emergency use ...
Say HELLO TO MR AND MRS RAT ... with a monthly supply of JUST ONE BITE rat
killer .. break the blocks up and throw all over the floor of the well house ..
NO MORE RATS OR MOUSIES ... lol
This is a very cheap way to insulate and should last for years .... you can make it
a quick job by overlaying your metal sheets rather than trying to cut them to size.
Do not leave any of your foam exposed ... the sun will evaporate it !!
Make it cheap for all 3 well users ... ask for a $100 from each and name a work
day ... if someone fails to pay or show up .... cut their water off .... lol
Posted 2017-12-08 11:59 AM Subject: RE: Insulating my pump house
Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12708
We have used the reflective wrap (coated bubble wrap!) a lot on our farm with great results. It is a bit expensive, but worth it if it works. We have double layers on all our water tanks and they don't freeze until it's been well under 32 for days. We used it in my old trailer for insulation and I was always too hot in there during the winter. During the summer it helped kick all the ceiling heat back out. In your application I would use Gorilla tape to affix it to surfaces. You can also use zip ties to wrap it onto those pipes. It is pretty flexible and wrapping pipes or round 'parts' works great.
Insulating my pump house
